Boom's supersonic jet is facing a lack of interest from engine suppliers:
Boom recently lost its jet engine partner for the Overture supersonic jet, and other major engine manufacturers aren't interested in the project either, Insider has reported. After Boom signed an "engagement agreement" with Rolls-Royce for supersonic jet engines back in 2020, the latter announced last week that it had left the project. Now, other major jet engine manufacturers including Pratt & Whitney, GE Aviation, Honeywell and Safran Aircraft Engines have told FlightGlobal they're not currently interested in supersonic aircraft.
Boom said that the project is still on track, though, and that it will soon announce an engine partner. "We can reconfirm our intention to announce Boom's selected engine partner and transformational approach for reliable, cost-effective, and sustainable supersonic flight, later this year." Boom told Insider. The company has 20 airplanes on order from American Airlines and 15 from United. It plans to build build a factory in California and start flying passengers by 2029.
For its part, Rolls-Royce said that "after careful consideration... [we] have determined that the commercial aviation supersonic market is not currently a priority for us and, therefore, will not pursue further work on the program at this time."
Previously: Airlines are Trying to Resurrect the Concorde Era
(Score: 3, Interesting) by RS3 on Wednesday September 21 2022, @01:12AM
Just from memory, "off the cuff" as they say, I believe the Concorde wasn't particularly aerodynamic at lower speeds, so it had to use a lot of thrust, compared to other planes, to stay aloft at lower speeds. Remember how the cockpit was on a hinge- it would droop down so the pilots could see the ground, because the entire plane needed to be at a great angle to develop enough lift at low speeds. There are some good youtube videos on the Concorde, its engineering, designs, compromises and tradeoffs, etc.
So sad what happened to the one that had the fire and horrible crash, and that probably hurt its reputation enough to scare off the people who would want to fly on it.